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United States Patent PRINTING AND PUNCHING MACHINE Alan M. Swett, Milton, Mass, assignor to Dennison Mannfacturing Company, Framingham, Mass, 2 corporation of Massachusetts Filed Jan. 2, 1958, Ser. No. 706,719

17 Claims. (Cl. 101-19) This invention relates to printing and punching indicia upon multiple-section tickets such as merchandise tickets or tickets used in keeping records of industrial operations.

A merchandise ticket may for example consist or" two separable sections one of which is attached to the merchandise and the other of which is detachable by the salesperson at the time of sale. Punched indicia carried by the detached section can be read by a reading machine which can reproduce the information furnished by the punched indicia in a number of ways, for xample by automatically preparing punched tabulating cards or by automatically punching a tape suitable for controlling tabulating or accounting machines.

In the simplest application of printed and punched multiple section tickets in the merchandising held, a ticket will have only these two sections. The section which is attached to the merchandise will in most cases be discarded by the customer. However, if the merchandise is returned to the store, the attached section will serve to identify the merchandise.

For some merchandising operations it is desirable to provide an additional detachable section to permit reuse of the ticket in case the merchandise is returned by the purchaser and then resold. For instance one section, the first section, may be detached at the time of first sale and used for accounting purposes, and a second section may be detached and used for accounting purposes when the merchandise is resold after having been returned, thus avoiding retioketing the merchandise in a considerable number of cases.

For this reuse of tickets the ticket will normally have at least three sections so that upon a resale of the merchandise the merchandise will still carry a ticket section.

For many uses, particularly with small articles, it is desirable that the ticket be as small as practicable in order to minimize detracting from the appearance of the merchandise displayed for sale. The size of the ticket could best be reduced by making the section which is attached to the merchandise shorter than the other section or sections. This shorter section, though incapable of carrying all of the indicia that is carried by the other section or sections can nevertheless carry enough indicia to permit the merchandise to be identified and to permit a refund, credit or exchange to be made if the merchandise is returned carrying only this single short section.

In some uses of printed and punched tickets a ticket section accompanying the merchandise may be intended to be read by a reading machine when the merchandise is returned, for the purpose of keeping account of returned merchandise or preparing a new ticket for the returned merchandise, or both. A ticket section for use in this way should ordinarily contain the same punched indicia that is carried by the previously detached other section or sections, and be of standard full length. However, it may be advantageous to avoid attaching the ticket to the merchandise by this section which may be read .by a reader in case the merchandise is returned. That is, it may be advantageous to provide a further section by ice which the ticket is attached to the merchandise, and this further attaching section need not be of full length but could well be a short header section, to avoid unnecessary size of the ticket.

Accordingly, the invention is concerned with multiple section ticket blanks which include a short header section, of less than the full length of a full-length section of the ticket, and with a printing and punching machine adapted to accommodate multiple-section blanks which have such short header sections and which have various numbers, one or more, of full-length sections. The pre ferred form of machine of the invention is adapted to print upon the short header section the printed indicia that comprises the bottom one of two lines of printing which the machine prints upon each full-length section.

Printing and punching machines as previously made by the assignee of this invention advance a procession of multiple-section ticket blanks step by step along a bed to a printing station, a punching station, and a further printing station, each step of advance being equal in length to the length of a ticket section, namely 1 inch. Following each step of advance the bed rises, causing any ticket section that occupies either a printing Station or the punching station to be printed or punched respectively. The machine of the present invention retains this general mode of operation but, as will be explained below, provides for introducing certain fractional feed steps of less length than the length of a full-length ticket section.

The invention is especially concerned with providing a machine adapted to handle tickets having only one fulllength section and a short header section and also tickets having two or more full-length sections and a short header section. These latter tickets, when they include several full-length sections, involve the requirement that printing and punching stations of the machine be so located that the locations of the ticket sections being printed and punched be distant from each other by an integral of the length of a full-length ticket section, that is one or two or three etc. times such length, so that printing and punching can occur simultaneously on different sections of the same ticket. The shorter tickets, having only one full-length section and a short header section involve a special problem, as will appear, and it is an object of this invention to provide for handling both these and the longer tickets satisfactorily in the same machine.

In one aspect the invention is concerned with removing from a punching station and delivering to a subsequent printing station a multiple-section ticket blank having only one full-length section in addition to its short header section. When such a blank is to be fed through the machine with its short header section trailing behind its full-length section, there is a problem in removing the ticket from the punching station where the full-length section is punched. It is undesirable to have a feeding means, such as a pawl or pawls, traverse the position at which the punching occurs because this would restrict the field in which punches could operate on the ticket. Without such feeding means traversing the punching position, the punched full-length section is not accessible to engagement by feeding means, and hence the problem in removing the ticket from the punching position. In the machine of the present invention this problem is solved by first advancing the ticket, after the punching, through a fractional step such that a feed slot in its full-length section is accessible to further feeding means, and then further advancing the ticket by this further feeding means engaging the full-length section at this feed slot.

An additional feature of the invention is that the steps by which the ticket is advanced to the next or printing station, following the fractional step which occurs at the punching station, together equal a multiple of the length 'same printing station by the of a full-length section, minus the length of the preliminary fractional step. In this way, notwithstanding the fractional step which facilitates removal from the punching station, the printing position of a full length section is nevertheless distant by a multiple of its length from the position of punching. This result would not be necessary if only relatively short tickets were to be handled, so that the printing and punching stations never acted on the same ticket in the same cycle. However, the location of the printing position relative to the punching position is of importance in permitting the handling of tickets having so many sections as to span the punching and printing means as these operate upon the ticket.

As indicated above, the special problem of removal of the ticket from the punching station only exists in the case of the ticket having only a single full-length section in addition to its short header section. With a greater number of full length sections, the step by step advance of the ticket, section by section, to the punching position Will deliver the whole of a full length section out of the punching station without the need for a fractional step. The invention so constructs the subsequent feeding means that it can pick up and feed a ticket section whether this section lies only a fractional step beyond punching position or lies a whole full-length section length beyond punching position.

Since the fractional step is necessary only for the shortest tickets, means is preferably provided for rendering the fractional-step feeding means inactive when desired.

However, the invention also involves the feature that the supply of ticket blanks can be changed from a supply of two-section blanks having only a single full-length section in addition to the header section to a supply of threesection blanks having two full-length sections in addition to the header section, without any need to render the fractional step advancing means inactive. The fractional step advancing means is so constructed that it will only impart the fractional step once per ticket. If a ticket having two full-length sections in addition to its header section receives a fractional feed step after its second full length section has been punched, the subsequent feeding means compensates for this fractional feeding step by giving the ticket a feed step shorter than a full-length step by the amount of the preceding fractional step, and so brings the ticket into proper registry with the printing station to which it is delivered. Thus the ticket supply .can be changed from two-section blanks to three-section blanks without deactivating thev fractional step feed mechanism.

It is mentioned above that a feed slot in the fulllength section of a two-section ticket is employed in removing the ticket from the punching station. This feed slot is preferably spaced from the top, trailing edge, of the ticket by substantially the length of the full-length section. This feed slot can then be useful in other cycles of feed than that at which the ticket is removed from the punching station, and further can be engaged in some cycles of feed by feed pawls which in other cycles engage the trailing end of the ticket, thus keeping the number of feed pawls at a minimum.

A further advantage of the feed slot of the full-length section being spaced from the top of the ticket by substantially the length of the full-length section is that, with the short section of a ticket trailing as is desirable, both types of sections can be successively presented to the same feeding means, operating with a uniform stroke. i

A further advantage of the feed slot of the full-length section being spaced from the top of the ticket by substantially the length of the full-length section is obtained at the stack from which the blanks are fed step by step. Feeding the bottom ticket forward one step, equal to the length of a full-length section, by means of this feed slot so positioned, will cause the rear edge of the short trailing section of the then partly ejected bottom ticket to lie at the forward edge of the feed slot of the next ticket above in the stack. The bottom partly ejected ticket can then be used to retain the feed pawl out of the feed slot of the next above ticket until the forward feed stroke next following complete ejection of a ticket. A similar result is obtained when tickets having a short trailing section and more than one full-length section are fed. In each case the bottom partly ejected ticket, when it requires one further step to clear the stack, will have its trailing edge no farther forward than the foremost feed slot of the next ticket above, and so can be used to retain the feed pawl out of this foremost feed slot of the next ticket above.

As will appear, when full-length sections in excess of one are present, these other full-length sections have feed slots, the feed slots being spaced from each other by substantially the length of a full-length section.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the specification and its accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan of a two-section ticket blank;

Fig. 2 is a plan of a four-section ticket blank;

Fig. 3 is a plan of a printed and punched ticket pro duced from the blank of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan of a top portion of a printed and punched ticket produced from the blank of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the printing and punching machine;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view with many parts removed;

Fig. 6a is a vertical section on line 6a-6a of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic and fragmentary plan of the bed, ticket feed bars and punching station with many parts removed;

Fig. 8 is a diagram in the nature of a vertical section taken through the forward feed bar of Fig. 7 and indicating the feed pawls of this bar, the stack of ticket blanks, the two sets of print wheels at the twopn'nting stations, the punch die, and also indicating the location of the ticket pusher;

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view on the line 9-9 of Fig. 5, the line 99 also being indicated on Fig. 8, showing especially the bed, the entrance to the punching die and the ticket pusher at the entrance to the punching die. This view also shows the two ticket feed'bars in cross sectional view as these pass beneath the ,lower die plate of the punching station;

Fig. 10 is a detailed view from the same point of view as Fig. 9 showing the ticket pusher;

Fig. 11 is a plan of the ticket pusher of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a right side view of the ticket pusher of Fig. 10, and from the same point of view as Fig. 8;

Fig. 12a is similar to Fig. 12 but shows the ticket pusher adjusted to its inoperative condition;

Fig. 13 is a vertical sectional view on the line 13-13 of Fig. 11 showing the ticket pusher in its extreme forward position; I

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 12 but showing the ticket pusher moving idly over a ticket;

Figs. 15 and 15a are diagrams on a greatly enlarged scale showing the first feed pawl in its left or rearward position for successive positions of the bottonnnost ticket of a stack of two-section tickets;

Fig. 16 is a diagram illustrating the feeding oftheitwosection tickets, the thickness of the tickets being exaggerated; and

Fig. 17 is a similar three-section tickets. I 1

Referring to Fig. 1 the blank 10 includes a full-length section 11 and a short header section 12 at the top. or head of the ticket blank, separated from the full-length section llby a weakened line 13. t 4

Section 11, the full-length section having a length L,

in the nature of a'plan diagram showing the feeding of is adapted to receive upper and. lower lines of printed indicia, and also punched coded indicia between these lines, as shown in Fig. 3. As is well known the punched indicia may reproduce some or all of the printed indicia in coded form, suitable to be interpreted by a sensing or reading device.

Section 12, the short header section, is the section of the ticket to be attached to an article, for example by pinning, and is of a length adapted to receive a single line of printed indicia. As shown in Fig. 3 this single line is similar to the bottom line of printed indicia of the fulllength section 11. This indicia may for example be such as will be useful in case the article is returned to a store for refund or credit, and may include such information as the price of the article and the department of the store.

i The blank is intended to pass through the printing and punching machine in the direction of the arrow x, Fig. l.

The full-length section 11 has a feed slot 14 therein and the operative edge of this slot is spaced from the top of the ticket by substantially the height of the full-length section, in other words by the distance L. Preferably such feed slots 14 are duplicated on the two lateral edges of the blank.

The blank of Fig. 2 includes the structure of the blank of Fig. 1 with additional full-length sections of length L, separated by weakened lines, and the additional feed slots 14 of these sections are spaced from each other and from the feed slots of the first full-length section by substantially this same length L.

In the ticket of Fig. 4, printed and punched from the blank of Fig. 2, two lines of printed indicia together with intervening punched codedindicia are duplicatedon each full-length section and the bottom line of printed indicia also is reproduced on the short header section.

The preferred form of printing and punching machine employed with these blanks punches locating holes 17, 18 and 19 in each full-length section 11 simultaneously with the punching of the coded indicia in that section. Locating holes 17 and 18 also are punched in the short section of the ticket of Fig. 4 simply because this short section is at the punches which are adapted to punch these two holes at the time the bed of the machine rises, thereby incidentally punching these holes 17 and 18 in the short header section. However these holes 17 and 18 do not appear in the short header section of the ticket of Fig. 3 because of a supplemental shifting motion which is imparted to this ticket and which removes this short header section from the region of the punches in time to avoid punching these holes 17 and 18 therein.

- The general organization of the printing and punching machine is similar to that of the application of Arnold R. Bone and Donald D. Sloan, Serial No. 493,754, filed March 11, 1955, assigned to the assignee of this present application, and the Bone and Sloan application may be referred to for details of construction, which however are not essential to an understanding of the principle of the present invention.

As in the machine of the Bone and Sloan application the present machine includes stationary head structure carrying banks of print wheels 20, 21 at printing stations indicated at PR-l and PR-2 which print the upper and lower lines respectively of printed indicia, and a bank of punches 25 controlled by interposer wheels 26 at a punching station indicated at PU, Fig. 8. The punches 25 are carried by a stationary cross member 27 supported by brackets 28, Fig. 9, from the stationary base of the machine.

I In general, each one of the print wheels of the banks of wheels 20 and '21 is individually settable. .Some of the interposer wheels 26 are connected with corresponding print wheels 20 and some of the interposer wheels 26 are connected with corresponding print wheels 21, as in the machine on said Bone and Sloan application with the result that the information which is punched by the punches 25 represents some of the information of the upper printed line of indicia and some of the information of the lower printed line.

A vertically movable bed 39 slidable on posts 30a carries the ticket material up against ink ribbons (not shown) and into printing relation to the print wheels 20 and 21. A lower die plate 31, movable with the bed, carries the tickets up against the punches 25 and a stripper plate 32, also movable with the bed, strips the ticket from the punches on the downward stroke of the bed. A ticket magazine is carried by the left end of the bed and is shown as including a front end section '35 and the rear end section 36 which is adjustable to various distances from the front end section to accommodate stacks of tickets of different lengths. The stack of tickets is held down by a suitable weight 36a, Fig. 8.

Reciprocating feed bars 37 are received in slots in the bed as shown in Fig. 6a and carry feed pawls, subsequently referred to in more detail, for removing the tickets step by step from the stack and advancing them step by step along the bed 3% to and past the first printing station, the punching station, and the second printing station. The two feed bars are connected to a slide 38, Fig. 6a, on the underside of the left end of the bed. While moving along the bed, except where they are otherwise covered, as by the stripper die plate, the tickets are held down near their edges by hold-down fingers 39 of inverted U shape, Fig. 9.

The timing of the rise and fall of the bed and the reciprocation of the feed bars is such that the feed bars attain their forward positions shortly before the bed carries the tickets into operative engagement with the print wheels and punches.

The up and down motion of the bed and the reciprocating motion of the feed bars are derived from a cam shaft 40, Fig. 6, driven through a suitable clutch and gearing from a motor 42.

Cams 43 and 44 operate through followers 43a and 44a to rock a pair of shafts 45 and 46 and these shafts are connected by toggles 45a, 45b and 46a, 46b (Figs. 5 and 9) to lift and lower the bed 30.

Cam 50 on cam shaft 40 operates through follower 50a to rock a shaft 52, which as indicated in Fig. 5 is connected by interconnected levers 53, 54 and link 55 to the feed bar slide 38 which reciprocates the feed bars.

In one cycle of revolution of the cam shaft 46 the feed bars are shifted from their left or rear position to the right slightly more than the length of a full-length ticket section, the bed is raised from its bottom position to print and punch the tickets which are located at the printing and punching stations, the feed bars are returned to their left positions and the bed is returned to its bottom position.

The feed pawls are arranged in pairs on the two feed bars and in Fig. 8 the feed pawls of the feed bar 37 nearest to the observer in Fig. 1 are shown.

Each feed pawl is pivoted on a pin and has its forward end urged upwardly by a spring 61.

The first or left feed pawl is best shown in the enlarged views of Figs. 15 and 15a. In Fig. 15 a stack of two-section tickets consisting of a full-length section 11 and a shorter header section 12 is shown. As previously described the operative edge of the feed slot 14 is distant from the top edge of the ticket (the left edge of the ticket in Figs. 15 and 15a) by the same distance as the length of the full-length ticket section, indicated as the distance L, for example 1 inch. The operative edge of the feed slot is accordingly distant from the bottom or right leading edge of the ticket by a distance equal to the length of the short header section, for example inch.

The pawl 65 is provided with a sharp tooth 66 adapted to enter the feed slot of the lowest ticket of the stack. Thus in the left or rear positions of this pawl its tooth is slightly to the left of the operative edge of the feed slot, for example as shown.

'7 Y r On its forward stroke the tooth 66 of the pawl enters the feed slot of the bottom ticket, engagesthe operative edge of this feed slot and moves the ticket forward the length of one full-length section. In thus picking up the bottom ticket the tooth is prevented from also picking up the next uppermost ticket at its feed slot by the presence of a shoulder 67 on the pawl engageable with the lower face of the lowermost ticket. The shoulder 67 is only slightly lower than the top of the tooth 66 so that the tooth cannot extend so high as to engage the feed slot of the next upper ticket.

The pawl retracts to its initial position, leaving the partially ejected bottom ticket as shown in Fig. 15a in position to be picked up again by the pawl on the next stroke to the right. On this next stroke, as will appear from Fig. a, the ticket will be picked up by engagement of the tooth 66 with its rear edge. It will be seen from Fig. 15a that the rear or trailing edge of this bottom partially ejected ticket coincides with the operative edges of the feed slots of the overlying tickets. The shoulder 67 engaging the rear portion of the partially ejected ticket prevents the tooth 66 from engaging the feed slot of the next overlying ticket.

Subsequent feed pawls 70 and 71, Fig. 8, advance the tickts in a procession to the first printing station PR-l and feed pawl 72 advances the tickets into the punching station between die 31 and stripper plate 32. Referring to line I of the diagram of Fig. 16, which shows the pawls in their right or forward positions, pawl 71 has fed one ticket (by its feed slot) into position for the upper line of indicia to be printed on the full-length section at the first printing station, and pawl 72 has fed the preceding ticket (by its rear edge) into position for its full-length section to receive its punching. The length of the die 31 in the direction of ticket travel is sub stantially the length of a full-length ticket section, and when positioned for punching in the die the full-length ticket section has its forward and rear margins lying substantially at the exit and entrance respectively of the die.

Following the punching, the ticket at the punching station is given a supplemental step of feed suflicient to bring the feed slots to the location of pawls at the exit side of the die. This supplemental step of feed is imparted by the ticket pusher mechanism now to be decribed.

The stationary cross member 27 carrying the punches also carries a mounting block 80 carrying pivot pins 81'at its ends. On these pins is pivoted a yoke 82 having end flanges 82a serving as a carrier for a shaft 84. A pusher pawl 85 is rotatably mounted on shaft 84 by ear portions 85a which are bent around shaft 84. An operating shaft 87 extends through the flanges 82a of yoke 82. A link 88 connected to one end of operating shaft 87 extends loosely through a bracket 89, Fig. 9, which is secured to the vertically movable bed 30. A compression spring 90 is interposed between bracket 89 and the operating shaft 87 so that downward movement of the bracket yieldingly moves the operating shaft 87 downwardly.

This downward movement of shaft 87 swings the yoke 82 about the pivot pins 81 from the position of Fig. 12 to that of Fig. 13. During this movement the pawl 85 is urged against the bed 30 by a tension spring 93 carried by the shaft 87.

Assuming that the full length section of a two-section ticket is in the die, the short header section being outside of the die at the entrance side, this movement of the pawl 85 from the position of Fig. 12 to that of Fig. 13 will cause the pawl to push the trailing edge of the ticket, advance the header section into the die and cause a corresponding length of the full length section of the ticket to emerge from the exit side of the die. The pawl 85 acts in this manner in between the positions indicated by lines I and II of the diagram of Fig. 16, line II showing the ticket thus advanced through a fractional step corresponding to the length of its short header section. The spring through which the motion of the vertically moving bracket 90 is transmitted to shaft 87 can yield while the pusher pawl 85 is held by the rear edge of the ticket until the ticket is freed by the punches, and then after the pawl has advanced to the die can yield further during any further downward movement of the bed and bracket 89. I i

It will be seen that although the pusher pawls forward edge portion is movable along the surface of the bed and in contact with the rear edge of the ticket, this portion of the pawl is also displaceable upwardly to admit ticket material beneath the pawl. In the position of line III of Fig. 16 the full length section of a ticket thus underlies the pawl. In between the position of line III and the position of line IV the pawl is moved forward to the entrance to the die as in other cycles but in this case slides idly over the surface of the ticket as indicated in Fig. 14, leaving it in the same position. Thus the fractional step of advance imparted to the ticket by the pawl is limited to one such fractional step per ticket, this step occurring when the short header section is at the entrance to the die.

As indicated by Fig. 8 the feed bars 37 have depressed portions which pass beneath the die 31. Pawls pivoted at 60a and urged upwardly by springs 61a are each provided with a rear or first tooth 101 and a front or second tooth 102. In the rear position of the feed bars the rear teeth 101 are at the die exit and therefore in position to engage and advance the ticket by its feed slot 14 on the next forward stroke.

At the same time the front teeth 102, which are spaced from the pawls 72 by three full-length section lengths, are in position to engage and advance the preceding ticket by its rear edge as shown by line II of the diagram of Fig. 16. It will be seen that this preceding ticket has its full-length section at the lower line printing station PR-Z. Movement of the feed bars to the right shifts each ticket one full-length section length, and the ticket whose full-length section received its lower line of printing in the position of lines I and II now receives corresponding printing on its short header section in the position of lines III and IV at station PR-Z.

When the feed bars next are in their rear positions (line IV) teeth 101 will be slightly to the rear of the rear edge 'of the last punched ticket. A full step of advance of this ticket would carry its lower-line indicia-receiving space beyond the line of action of the lower-line printing station PR-2. This is prevented however because the teeth 102 of the pawls 100 engage the lower face of the ticket, this holding the pawls 100 sufficiently depressed so that their teeth 101 are unable to engage the rear edge of the ticket. The ticket accordingly is not advanced until the teeth 102 enter the feed slots 14.

The step of advance from the position of line IV to that of line I of Fig. 16, by means of teeth 102, is therefore a shortened step of advance equal to the length of a full length ticket section minus the length of the fractional step of advance that was imparted by the pusher pawl 85. The ticket is thereby delivered at station PR-2 in a position which is distant by a multiple of full-length ticket sections from the position of the ticket when punched at station PU and likewise distant byv a multiple of fulllength ticket sections from the position where it was printed at station PR-l. As shown by line I of Fig. 16 all of the tickets of the procession are now again equally spaced, with each full-length section distant by a fulllength section length from the full-length section of the next ticket.

A pawl 105 similar to pawls 70, 71 and 72 is adapted to cooperate in shifting a ticket to bring its short header section into the line of action of the lower line printing station PR-2, as may be seen by comparison of lines II and HI of Fig. 16, and then, on the next forward stroke,

acts to remove the ticket from this station as may be seen by comparing lines IV and I.

The tooth 102 imparts a shortened step of advance only once to a given ticket, namely in the movement of the last-punched ticket from the position of line IV to the position of line I of Fig. 16. After the shortened step of advance the ticket, so to speak, is in step with the other tickets. The subsequent shift of the ticket from the position of line II to that of line III is a full length step and brings the short header section into the line of action of the lower-line printing station PR-Z.

For tickets of more than two sections in length the fractional step of feed imparted by the pusher pawl is not needed. A plate 110 having a down-turned stop arm portion 111 is slidable on top of the mounting block 80 and adjustably secured in position by a screw 113. By sliding this plate and arm to the right in Fig. 10 the stop arm 111 may be brought into alignment with an ear 114 on the pawl 85. As this adjustment is made the inclined right edge of arm 111 plows the ear 114 downwardly as the arm slides over the ear. Pawl 85 is then held as shown in Fig. 12:: so that its forward end clears the rear edge of a ticket.

Tooth 102 of pawl 100 is located at three full-length section lengths from pawl 72. Accordingly, when the pawl 85 is rendered inoperative in handling tickets of more than two sections length, the movement of pawl 72, when it acts on the rear edge of the ticket will advance the ticket to a point where feed slots of the ticket are in position to receive the teeth 102 of the pawls 100. In this case there is no fractional step of advance of a ticket by the pawl 85 and each step of advance imparted by the tooth 102 is a full length step. In this case the tooth 101 does not feed.

With the pawl 85 rendered inoperative tickets of a considerable number of sections can be handled because the positions of the sections during first printing, punching, and second printing are each distant by multiples of fulllength ticket sections and a ticket can span two or if necessary all three of the printing and punching stations and be acted on simultaneously at the stations spanned.

Although with the particular construction shown it is necessary to render the pawl 85 inoperative when tickets of more than three sections are handled, the pawl 85 may be allowed to operate when three-section tickets are handled. This avoids need for adjusting the pusher pawl mechanism if two-section tickets and three-section tickets are handled but no greater length of ticket is handled. Referring to the diagram of Fig. 17 which illustrates a stage in the feeding of three-section tickets, line I shows the second full-length section of a ticket in punching position and line II shows the ticket after it has been advanced one full-section length from the position of line I by tooth N2. This advance is caused entirely by the pair of teeth 102 when the pusher pawl 85 is rendered inactive, and delivers the ticket to the lower-line printing station PR-2.

If, however, the pawl 85 is allowed to operate, the ticket will receive a fractional step of advance and will reach the dotted line position of line Ia before the tooth 102 advances to the right. When the tooth moves to the right to the position of line II the ticket is not advanced from this dotted line position'until tooth 102 reaches and enters the feed slot, and the advance of the ticket then is a shortened step equal to the length of a full-length section minus the length of the fractional step imparted by the pusher pawl, bringing the ticket to the same position in line II that would have been attained had the pawl 85 not operated.

It will be noted that in the dotted line position of line Ia a feed slot of the ticket has been brought to the position where tooth 101 receives a ticket in the handling of two-section tickets. Tooth 101, however, is prevented from picking up the feed slot of the three-section ticket because of the engagement of tooth 102 with the ticket 10 and the consequent lowering of tooth 101 below the ticket.

With this manner of use of the device, the device is ready to deliver two-section tickets according to the diagram of Fig. 16 without further adjustment of the pusher pawl mechanism.

The mechanism for stopping and starting the machine and for counting the tickets can be as disclosed in the said Bone and Sloan application. It need only be mentioned that the ticket blanks of Figs. 1 and 2 of the present application do not need to have the pre-punched holes that are counted by being penetrated by a sensing pin in the machine of the Bone and Sloan application. This is for the reason that the top or trailing section of the blanks of the present application, being short, leaves a gap between the blank and the next following blank as shown in Figs. 16 and 17, and this gap is penetrated by the sensing pin and counted in the same manner that the hole is penetrated and counted in the blanks employed in the machine of the Bone and Sloan application.

The general principle of imparting a fractional step of feed and a subsequent step which substantially equals the length of a full-length section minus the length of the first fractional step is applicable to machines having various locations of punching and printing stations, and is applicable whenever the positions of a ticket undergoing punching and undergoing printing are to be distant by an integral of the length of the full-length ticket section, that is, are to be distant by one, two, three, four, etc., time or times the length of the full-length ticket section. As will appear from the diagrams of this application, in the machine illustrated the positions of a ticket section being printed at PR-2 and being punched at PU are distant b two times the length of the full-length section.

I claim:

1. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, the machine including punching means adapted to punch a ticket section at one station and printing means adapted to print on a ticket section at another station, said two stations being so positioned relative to each other that a full-length ticket section being printed occupies a position distant by an integral of its length from the position in which a full-length ticket section is punched, whereby ticket material so long as to span the two stations may be accommodated, and means for advancing the ticket material from the first station to the second station, said last named advancing means including means operative at said first station for advancing a ticket from its position where its last fulllength section is operated on at the first station through a fractional step, corresponding to a fraction of the length of said full-length section, and subsequent feeding means for imparting to the ticket a step of advance which substantially equals the length of a full-length section minus the length of said fractional step.

2. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, the machine including punching means adapted to punch a ticket section at one station and printing means adapted to print on a ticket section at another station, said two stations being so positioned relative to each other that a full-length ticket section being printed occupies a position distant by a multiple of its length from the position in which a full-length ticket section is punched, whereby ticket material so long as to span the two stations may be accommodated, and means for advancing the ticket material from the first station to the second station, said last named advancing means including means operative at said first station for advancing a ticket from its position where'its last full-length 11 section is operated on at the first station through a fractional step, corresponding to a fraction of the length of said full-length section, and subsequent feeding means for advancing the ticket to the second station in steps which together equal a multiple of the length of a full size ticket section, minus the length of said fractional ste 3 In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, the machine including punching means adapted to punch a ticket section at one station and printing means adapted to print on a ticket section at another station, said two stations being so positioned relative to each other that a full-length ticket section being printed occupies a position distant by a multiple of its length from the position in which a full-length ticket section is punched, whereby ticket material so long as to span the two stations may be accommodated, and means for advancing the ticket material from the first station to the second station, said last named advancing means including means operative at said first station for advancing a ticket from its position where its last full-length section is operated on at the first station through a fractional step, corresponding to a fraction of the length of said full-length section, and subsequent feeding means for advancing the ticket to the second station in steps one of which substantially equals the length of a fulllength section minus the length of said fractional step.

4. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, the machine including punching means adapted to punch a ticket section at one station and printing means adapted to print on a ticket section at another station, said two stations being so positioned relative to each other that a full-length ticket section being printed occupies a position distant by a multiple of its length from the position in which a full-length ticket section is punched, whereby ticket material so long as to span the two stations may be accommodated, and means for advancing the ticket material from the first station to the second station, said last named advancing means including means engageable with the rear end of a ticket at the first station to advance a ticket through a fractional step corresponding to a fraction of the length of a full-length section, to bring the adjacent full-length section of the ticket at least partially out of the first station, and subsequent feeding means for advancing the ticket through a distance equal to a multiple of the length of said full length section, minus the length of said fractional step.

5. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, the machine including punching means adapted to punch a ticket section at one station and printing means vadapted to print on a ticket section at another station, said two stations being so positioned relative to each other that a full-length ticket section being printed occupies a position distant by a multiple of its length from the position in which a full-length ticket section is punched, whereby ticket material so long as to span the two stations may be accommodated, and means for advancing the ticket material from the first station to the second station, said last named advancing means including means engageable with the rear end of a ticket at the first station to advance a ticket through a fractional step corresponding to a fraction of the length of a fulllength section, to bring the adjacent full-length section of the ticket at least partially out of the first station, and subsequent feeding means for advancing a two-section a 12 ticket first through a step corresponding to the length of its full-length section and then through a step corresponding'to the length of its full-length section, minus the length of said fractional step.

6. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, the machine including punching means adapted to punch a ticket section at one station and printing means adapted to print on a ticket section at another station, said two stations being so positioned relative to each other that a full-length ticket section being printed occupies a position distant by a multiple of its length from the position in which a full-length ticket section is punched, whereby ticket material so long as to span the two stations may be accommodated, and means for advancing the ticket material from the first station to the second station, said last named advancing means including means engageable with the rear end of a ticket at the first station to advance a ticket through a fractional step corresponding to a fraction of the length of a fulllength section, to bring the adjacent full length section of the ticket at least partially out of the first station, and subsequent feeding means for advancing the ticket through subsequent steps one of which is shorter than the length of a ticket section by an amount representing said fractional step, and means for limiting the occurrence of said subsequent shorter step to one such shorter step per ticket.

7. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, reciprocating mechanism for feeding a procession of tickets, the feeding mechanism including two ticket-engaging members spaced one in advance of the second by less than the stroke of said reciprocating mechanism, and means for rendering the first member ineffective to feed a ticket when the second member engages the ticket, so that the first member can move a ticket through a step equal to the length of a full-length section of the ticket when the ticket is presented to said first member but not to the second member, and that on the succeeding forward stroke the second member can slide in contact with the ticket through a substantial part of the stroke without either member feeding the ticket, then pick up a feed slot of the ticket and feed the ticket through the remaining fractional part of the stroke.

8. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, reciprocating mechanism for feeding a procession of tickets, the feeding mechanism including two ticket-engaging members spaced one in advance of the second by less than the stroke of said reciprocating mechanism, and means for retaining the first member out of engagement with the rear edge of a ticket when the second member engages the ticket, so that the first member can move a ticket through a step equal to the length of a full-length section of the ticket when the ticket is presented to said first member but not to the second member, and that on the succeeding forward stroke the second member can slide in contact with the ticket through a substantial part of the stroke without either member feeding the ticket, then pick up a feed slot of the ticket and feed the ticket through the remaining fractional part of the stroke.

9. in a printing and punching machine adapted for two styles of multiple-section tickets having two and three sections respectively, in each of which tickets one section is a short-length header section, the remaining section or sections being full-length sections, a punching station, a ticket pusher member positioned to push the rear end of the ticket through a fractional feed step to remove a portion of a full-length section of a two-section ticket from the punching station, a first feed pawl for engaging the two-section ticket by a feed slot after said fractional feed step and advancing the ticket a full-length section length, a second feed pawl for advancing the ticket one step of a length substantially equal to a full-length section length minus the length of said fractional feed step, and means for preventing the first feed pawl from engaging in the feed slot of a ticket in case the ticket is engaged by the second feed pawl, whereby after such fractional feed step has been imparted to a three-section ticket the fulllength step of advance by the first feed pawl is suppressed and only the second of said feed pawls is effective.

10. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, the machine including punching means adapted to punch a ticket section at one station and printing means adapted to print on a ticket section at another station, and means for advancing the ticket material from the first station to the second station, said last named advancing means including means operative at said first station for advancing the ticket material through a fractional step corresponding to a fraction of the length of a full-length section and a reciprocating two-pronged feeding member at the exit side of said first station, said member having a first prong engageable with a feed slot in the full-length section of a ticket presented to it by said fractional step and a second prong engageable with the same feed slot upon a subsequent reciprocation of said member, said second prong being spaced from said first prong by the length of a full-length ticket section minus the length of said fractional step, thereby to deliver the full-length ticket section to a position distant from the punching position by a multiple of the length of a full-length section.

11. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section adapted to receive both printing and punching, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, the machine including punching means adapted to punch a ticket section at one station and printing means adapted to print on a ticket section at another station, and means for advancing the ticket material from the first station to the second station, said last named advancing means including means operative at said first station for advancing the ticket material through a fractional step corresponding to a fraction of the length of a full-length section and a reciprocating two-pronged feeding member at the exit side of said first station, said member having a first prong engageable with a feed slot in the full-length section of a ticket presented to it by said fractional step and a second prong engageable with the same feed slot upon a subsequent reciprocation of said member, said second prong being spaced from said first prong by the length of a full-length ticket section minus the length of said fractional step, thereby to deliver the full-length ticket section to a position distant from the punching position by a multiple of the length of a full-length section, the heights of the two prongs being such that when the second prong engages the ticket material the first prong is thereby held out of operative engagement with the ticket material.

12. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, a bank of punches, a bed, there being relative movement between the bed and punches to cause the punches to act, feeding means comprising a plurality of feed pawls reciprocating in unison in front of and following the punches, a ticket pusher member at the entrance to the punches, means for actuating the ticket pusher member to shift a ticket forwardly from a punching position after punching and before the next forward stroke of the feed pawls, so as to deliver the ticket to the feed pawl next following the punches.

13. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material of which at least one section of each ticket is a full-length section, another section of the ticket being of shorter length, a bank of punches, a bed, there being relative movement between the bed and punches to cause the punches to act, feeding means comprising a plurality of feed pawls reciprocating in unison in front of and following the punches, a ticket pusher member at the entrance to the punches, means for actuating the ticket pusher member to shift a ticket forwardly from a punching position through a fractional step corresponding to a fraction of the length of a full-length ticket section after punching and before the next forward stroke of the feed pawls, so as to deliver the ticket to the feed pawl next following the punches.

14. In a printing and punching machine for ticket material including a full-length section and another section of shorter length, a bed, punching means, means for advancing a procession of the tickets step by step along the bed to the punching means with their shorter length sections trailing, in steps corresponding to the length of a full-length ticket section, a pusher member at the entrance to the punching means, said pusher member having a forward stroke after each step by step advance of the ticket, and being engageable with the trailing edge of a shorter length section of a ticket to advance the ticket a fractional step, the pusher member being displaceable from the bed to admit of travel over the surface of a full-length section of a ticket at the entrance to the punching means so that the pusher member moves idly on its forward strokes when full-length sections are present in advance of the punching means.

15. In a printing and punching machine as claimed in claim 14, there being relative movement between the bed and punches to cause the punches to act, a carrier for the pusher member, the carrier being pivotally mounted for movement of the pusher member toward the punches, the pusher member being pivoted on the carrier, means urging the pusher member toward the bed and means for causing the relative movement between bed and punches to swing the carrier to advance the pusher member along the bed toward the punches.

16. In a printing and punching machine for ticket material including at least one full-length section and another section of shorter length, a bed, punching means, means for advancing a procession of the tickets step by step along the bed to the punching means with their shorter length sections trailing, in steps corresponding to the length of a full-length ticket section, a pusher member at the entrance to the punching means, said pusher member having a forward stroke after each step by step advance of the tickets and being yieldingly urged toward the bed, the pusher member being located to engage and push the trailing edge of a shorter length ticket section when no full-length section of the same ticket lies in front of the punching means and being displaceable away from the bed, so as to advance idly without advancing the ticket when engaged by the face of such a full-length ticket section in front of the punching means.

17. In a printing and punching machine for multiplesection ticket material, a bank of punches, a bed, there being relative movement between the bed and punches to cause the punches to act, a ticket pusher member at the entrance to the punches, a carrier for the pusher member, the carrier being pivotally mounted for movement of the pusher member toward the punches, the pusher member being pivoted on the carrier, means urging the pusher member toward the bed, means for causing the relative movement between bed and punches to swing the carrier to advance the pusher member along the bed toward the punches, and mechanism for selectively rendering the pusher member ineffective comprising a stop element movable into position to retain the ticket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hoefer Sept. 22, 1914 Meusch Dec. 19, 1916 Wright Jan. 23, 1934 Freedman Dec. 5, 1950 Dutro Oct. 13, 1953 Holmwood Jan. 25, 1955 Braun May 24, 1955 

